Best LLM Router / Comparisons / OpenRouter vs Vercel AI Gateway
OpenRouter vs Vercel AI Gateway
Both are hosted: one key, many providers, billed from prepaid credits. The differences are in what you pay on top of tokens, what privacy controls are documented, and how close each sits to where your app already runs.
In one line: On Vercel already and price-sensitive: Vercel AI Gateway. Need documented ZDR controls or provider-level routing: OpenRouter.
Facts checked 11 Nov 2026 against each vendor’s public docs.
OpenRouter
Hosted routerHosted
A hosted marketplace router: one API and one credit balance for models from many providers, with provider routing, fallbacks and per-request privacy controls.
- Pricing model
- Provider price plus a fee on credits
- ZDR on inference
- Documented
- Web search in the call
- Yes, server-side
Vercel AI Gateway
Hosted gatewayHosted
A hosted API for models from many providers with routing, fallbacks, prompt caching and usage monitoring, billed from prepaid credits at list price.
- Pricing model
- No markup on tokens
- ZDR on inference
- Not documented
- Web search in the call
- Not documented
Side by side
| Criterion | OpenRouter | Vercel AI Gateway |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Provider prices passed through with no markup on inference, plus a fee when you buy credits (rate on openrouter.ai/pricing). Your own provider keys cost 5% of the normal price above a plan-dependent free allowance.Source, checked 11 Nov 2026 | No markup and no platform fee on tokens, including with your own keys. You pay the provider's list price from prepaid credits; payment processing fees may apply. A free tier covers a subset of models.Source, checked 11 Nov 2026 |
| Privacy terms | Prompts and responses are not stored unless you opt in or content is flagged as potential CSAM. Zero Data Retention can be enforced globally, per model group, per guardrail or per request. Request metadata is stored.Source, checked 11 Nov 2026 | Not verified here. Check Vercel's AI Gateway docs for its retention terms and each provider's.Source, checked 11 Nov 2026 |
| Model coverage | Frontier models from the major labs and open-weight models, served by many providers. The full list is on the models page and the models API.Source, checked 11 Nov 2026 | Models from many providers. The live list, with prices and context windows, is on the models page and a public model list API.Source, checked 11 Nov 2026 |
| Routing and fallbacks | Provider routing sorted by price, throughput or latency, model fallbacks, and general-purpose routers that pick a model per request.Source, checked 11 Nov 2026 | Routing, fallbacks, prompt caching and usage monitoring, with budgets per API key.Source, checked 11 Nov 2026 |
| Latency overhead | Built to add minimal latency, but no fixed overhead figure is published. Cold edge caches in a new region, low credit balances and failed providers can add latency.Source, checked 11 Nov 2026 | No overhead figure is published in the pages checked. Measure it against a direct provider call before you commit.Source, checked 11 Nov 2026 |
What you pay on top of tokens
Vercel states no markup and no platform fee on tokens, including with your own keys; payment processing fees may apply. OpenRouter charges a fee when you buy credits, and 5% of the normal price on your own keys above a free allowance.
Privacy controls
OpenRouter documents per-request and account-wide Zero Data Retention and which providers retain or train. Vercel's retention terms weren't verified in the pages checked here; read them in Vercel's docs before you send sensitive data.
Where it fits
If your app is deployed on Vercel, its gateway sits in the same dashboard, billing and budgets. OpenRouter is independent of where you host, with provider routing by price, throughput or latency.
Which suits whom
Choose OpenRouter if
- Documented Zero Data Retention controls matter
- You want provider sorting by price, throughput or latency
- Your app isn't hosted on Vercel
Choose Vercel AI Gateway if
- Your app runs on Vercel and you want one dashboard and bill
- You want list-price tokens with no markup, with or without your own keys
On Vercel already and price-sensitive: Vercel AI Gateway. Need documented ZDR controls or provider-level routing: OpenRouter.
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